Chapter 10 - The Night Milan Turned Against Them
The photographers shouted Elena’s name before she stepped out of the car.
“Elena! Did Moretti pay you?”
“Did you falsify the San Aurelio documents?”
“Is your relationship with Alessandro Moretti personal?”
That question made Elena pause.
Not because of the accusation.
Because she didn’t know the answer anymore.
Alessandro walked beside her toward the government building.
He did not touch her.
That was deliberate.
Every photograph mattered now.
Inside, investigators separated them.
Elena spent five hours answering questions.
Yes, she had accepted a restoration contract.
No, she had never received payment beyond the documented professional retainer.
Yes, her father created the covenant.
No, she had not signed the amendment.
Yes, the signature resembled hers.
No, it was not hers.
She provided metadata.
Access logs.
Carlo’s recording.
Sophia’s statement.
The original covenant.
By late afternoon, the investigators’ tone had changed.
Not friendly.
But curious.
Curiosity was better than suspicion.
Then an official placed another document before her.
“Do you recognize this?”
Elena did.
A bank transfer.
Five hundred thousand euros into an account bearing her name.
Three months earlier.
She stared.
“That isn’t my account.”
“It uses your tax identification.”
“Then someone created it.”
“Who?”
“If I knew, I would tell you.”
The official watched her.
“This money originated from a Moretti subsidiary.”
Elena’s heart stopped.
“What?”
He turned the document.
The sending company was MRC Heritage Services.
Elena had never heard of it.
That evening she confronted Alessandro.
They stood in the library with Dante and Matteo.
“Do you own MRC Heritage Services?”
Alessandro’s expression changed immediately.
“No.”
“Someone using the Moretti name sent half a million euros to an account opened in mine.”
Dante swore.
Matteo reached for the document.
“MRC.”
His face went still.
“What?”
“Moretti Riccardo Consulting.”
Their uncle.
Elena sat down.
Riccardo had created an entity designed to appear connected to the Moretti group.
He sent money into a fraudulent Elena Rossi account.
Then leaked proof of the transfer.
Perfect.
“If investigators hadn’t asked me directly…”
“They might have assumed we paid you,” Alessandro said.
Elena laughed bitterly.
“That was the point.”
Matteo was already typing.
“I’m tracing registration.”
Dante headed for the door.
Alessandro stopped him.
“Where are you going?”
“To Riccardo.”
“No.”
“He framed Elena using our family.”
“And confronting him gives him time to destroy evidence.”
Dante’s jaw tightened.
Elena watched the brothers.
Then said, “Let him think we don’t know.”
Three heads turned toward her.
“If Riccardo believes the transfer worked, he’ll continue.”
Matteo smiled slowly.
“You want him comfortable.”
“I want him careless.”
Alessandro studied her.
“You’re becoming frightening.”
“Good.”
They returned to the archive.
By ten, Matteo confirmed Riccardo controlled MRC through two holding companies.
By eleven, they found a second transfer.
By midnight, the financial investigator called Elena.
“We have verified the receiving account was opened using falsified identification.”
Elena closed her eyes.
“Does that clear me?”
“It helps.”
“Helps?”
“We still need to determine whether you authorized anyone to act on your behalf.”
“I didn’t.”
“I understand.”
“No, I need you to understand something else.”
She looked at Carlo’s covenant.
“Someone has spent years manufacturing the appearance of my consent. Stop asking only whether each document is real. Ask who benefits from making all the documents point toward the same lie.”
Silence.
The investigator finally said, “That is what we are doing.”
The next morning, headlines shifted.
QUESTIONS EMERGE OVER ROSSI EVIDENCE.
Not innocence.
But doubt.
Doubt was oxygen.
Then Sophia called.
“I know where the master agreement is.”
Elena stood.
“You said Hotel Varenna.”
“It was moved.”
“Where?”
“Niccolò’s foundation gala.”
“When?”
“Tonight.”
Alessandro heard through speakerphone.
“No.”
Elena looked at him.
Sophia continued.
“Niccolò keeps important papers in a portable safe during major negotiations. He’ll have it at the gala because he’s meeting investors.”
Dante shook his head.
“We are not stealing a safe.”
Sophia said, “You don’t have to.”
Everyone looked at the phone.
“I can get him to open it.”
Elena’s stomach tightened.
“How?”
“He still thinks I want back in.”
“No.”
“Elena.”
“No.”
Sophia’s voice broke.
“You told me apologies don’t open the door back into your life.”
“They don’t.”
“Then let me do something that matters anyway.”
Elena closed her eyes.
This was exactly what she had wanted.
Accountability.
Action.
Now that Sophia offered it, Elena hated the risk.
Alessandro took the phone.
“Sophia, if you meet Casano, you do it with police coordination.”
“He’ll know.”
“Then no meeting.”
Elena looked at him.
“She’s right.”
“No.”
“You don’t get to decide for her.”
“I’m deciding what happens under my security.”
Sophia whispered, “Elena.”
Elena took the phone.
“If you do this, we do it legally.”
“How?”
“Cooperate with investigators. Wear a recorder if they authorize it. No theft. No heroics.”
Sophia gave a shaky laugh.
“You sound like Dad.”
Elena nearly cried.
That evening, Sophia entered the Casano Foundation gala wearing a silver dress.
Investigators monitored her from nearby.
The Morettis remained away to avoid spooking Niccolò.
Elena listened through an approved live feed.
Sophia found Niccolò near a private gallery.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he said.
“I want back in.”
“You gave files to your sister.”
“Marco blamed everything on me.”
Niccolò laughed.
“You were always temporary.”
Elena watched Sophia absorb the insult.
“Show me the agreement.”
“Why?”
“So I know Marco isn’t cutting me out.”
Niccolò said nothing.
Sophia pushed.
“You promised me one percent.”
Silence.
Then Niccolò said, “Come upstairs.”
Elena’s heart pounded.
Minutes later, Sophia entered a private office.
A safe opened.
Papers moved.
She whispered, “There.”
An investigator photographed the documents remotely through Sophia’s concealed camera.
Page one.
Profit allocations.
Page two.
Fraudulent authorization plan.
Page three.
Names.
Marco.
Enzo.
Riccardo.
Niccolò.
And beneath them:
Objective: obtain Rossi signature through marriage mechanism or reputational incapacity.
Elena stopped breathing.
The entire plan was there.
Sophia whispered, “I need to go.”
Then Niccolò’s voice changed.
“Why are you wearing that necklace?”
Sophia froze.
Elena’s blood went cold.
The recording device was concealed in the pendant.
Niccolò stepped closer.
“What is that?”
The feed filled with static.
Then went silent.
Elena stood so fast her chair fell backward.
“Sophia?”
Nothing.
“Sophia!”
Alessandro was already calling the investigators.
And for the first time since discovering her sister in Marco’s bed, Elena felt only one thing.
Not anger.
Not betrayal.
Fear.
Because whatever Sophia had done, she was still her sister.
May you like
And the next sixty seconds would decide whether Elena ever got the chance to tell her that.
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